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Saul Goodman
Saul Goodman is a criminal lawyer and the principle attorney of Saul Goodman & Associates. He operates out of a cheap strip mall office and runs over-the-top late night TV ads advising potential clients they'd "Better Call Saul" when in trouble with the law and claiming "I fight for YOU, Albuquerque!" Saul serves the lawyer for Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, getting them out of several difficult situations over the course of their drug business operations. He has a strong familiarity with the criminal trade and has connections to some of its most influential distributors, like Gustavo Fring. Saul arranges for Walt to launder drug money through Walter Jr..'s website (SaveWalterWhite.com) and dispatches a Cleaner (Mike Ehrmantraut) to Jesse's apartment to attend to Jesse and dispose of any incriminating evidence after his girlfriend Jane overdoses. With a repetoire that includes small-time drug busts, fraudulent insurance claims, and fat people class actions, Saul is easily found in the Albuquerque yellow pages. With a sleazy manner that is sometimes bordering on comical, he might seem disreputable to police and certain other lawyers. Despite his fantastically shady appearance, Saul is indeed a highly competent extra-legal operator, adept at sniffing out legal loopholes and able to negotiate cherry deals on the behalf of his clients. He also employs the services of a veteran private investigator named Mike, who respects Saul for just what he is and executes often illegal commands from Saul and Gus, such as cleaning up crime scenes and bugging homes. His made up last name is a play on words to better attract clients, "it's all good man" becomes "Saul Goodman". Character history Saul has had multiple wives in the past, one of which he caught having intercourse with his step-father. At a certain point, he developed a romantic relatonship with his secretary, albeit short-lived. A city boy, he is of Irish descent and his real surname is McGill. However, he changed it as he claims his clients feel more comfortable with a Jewish lawyer. Season 2 Following Badger's arrest for selling meth, Walt and Jesse contacted Saul for legal representation, as Jesse knew him from successfully defending Emilio twice. Walt, posing as Badger’s uncle "Mr. Mayhew", hired him to keep Badger out of prison. Unfortunately, while meeting Badger at the police station he caught a glimpse of Hank Schrader and Steven Gomez, and deducing they were interested in his client, made a deal with the DEA for Badger to testify against his dealer “Heisenberg.” Walt, recognizing the danger, offered Saul $10,000 to keep Badger from talking to the DEA, but Saul refused, claiming to be “morally outraged.” Walt and Jesse then took more desperate measures, kidnapping Saul and taking him to the desert to threaten him into keeping Badger from testifying. However, Saul quickly points out it would make more sense to kill Badger in prison, but Walt and Jesse refuse this solution. Identifying “Mr. Mayhew” from Walt’s hacking cough, he quickly offered to be their lawyer, accepting payment of six dollars on the spot for attorney-client confidentiality. at the strip mall]] To throw the DEA off Walt and Jesse’s trail, Saul proposes the use of James Edward Kikely (aka Jimmy “In-and-Out”), a man who fits Heisenberg’s description and who is willing to go to prison for money. In exchange for $80,000 - $50,000 of which Saul takes as a finder’s fee – and a decoy pound of meth, Saul has Badger cooperate with the authorities and a sting operation leads to Jimmy’s arrest. With his private investigator figuring out who Walt is in an hour, Saul – intrigued by the DEA’s interest in Walt’s product – makes an offer to Walt to become his legal counsel, in the same vein as Tom Hagen from “The Godfather.” Walt accepts the offer, obtaining Saul’s expertise. With the rapid improvement in his medical condition, Walt's doctors recommended surgery as the final step to making him cancer free. It would all cost $170,000 however. Walt and Jesse had another problem when one of their dealers, Christian "Combo" Ortega, is shot on the street and Jesse believed someone is trying to take over. With only Skinny left as a dealer, Jesse and Walt needed to find a solution to selling their product. Saul Goodman suggested they get someone more experienced in the trade to help them out with the large quantities they have on hand. Season 3 Following the success of the large sale to Gus – which leads to Saul buying better suits and a Bluetooth headset – Saul pushes Walt to take Gus’s lucrative offer to continue cooking. He also accepts a job from Jesse, using Jesse’s half of the earnings to purchase his aunt’s house at a dramatically lowered price – strong-arming Jesse’s parents and attorney with a potential lawsuit over the undisclosed meth lab Jesse was running out of the basement. After Walt reveals Skyler has threatened to expose him, Saul hires Mike to bug the White house as insurance. Forced to leave early when Walt comes home, Mike witnesses the Cousins entering with an axe, and quickly places a call to Gus to call them off. Per Gus’s direction, Saul has not been informed of this threat to Walt . Mike later brings Walt to Saul after Walt creates a disturbance at Skyler’s office, and attempts to talk Walt into cooking meth again. Admitting that he bugged Walt’s house and making an off-color comment about Skyler, Saul is attacked and subsequently fired by Walt. Furious, Saul shuts down the laundering of Walt’s drug money. Jesse then approaches Saul with two bags of meth he has cooked himself using Walt’s procedure, and asks to set up a deal. He meets Victor under a bridge to make the exchange, only to see he has been given half of the money – the other half went to Walt . Saul sets up an intervention between Walt and Jesse offering to give Walt a percentage of Jesse’s future deals. Walt returns Jesse’s half of the first deal, coldly informing both of them that he has now accepted Gus’s offer and will be cutting Jesse out of the business. Quickly dumping Jesse in favor of the much higher profits Walt can produce, Saul is once again hired to launder money for Walt – this time for a dramatically reduced payment of five percent . When Hank successfully deduces the existence of the RV, Walt calls Saul in a panic. Saul is at a loss, and scolds him for not having a "self-destruct" mechanism like the Starship Enterprise. After Hank locates the RV with Walt and Jesse trapped inside, Walt calls Saul for assistance. Saul has his secretary Francesca masquerade as a law enforcement official to make Hank believe his wife has been severely injured in a car accident. Saul appears regretful of his part in the cruel ruse and discards the phone used to make the call, while Francesca tells him she should be paid more for this sort of work. Season 4 Ever since Jesse murdered Gale at the end of Season Three, Saul has been shown at a minimum. In episode one, it is shown that he has locked up his offices and has a security guard at the door. Saul starts scanning his offices for bugs madly and shows increased paranoia. A new over-the-top commercial of his can be seen, revolving around the airplane crash. He helps Skyler purchase the Car Wash from Bogdan and convince Ted Beneke to pay his back taxes, with the help of his associates Huell and Kuby. Season 5 In The Fifth Season it is revealed that Saul stole the ricin cigarette from Jesse, but what he didn't know is that "A Kid" would end up in the hospital because of it. It also shows that him and Walt aren't having the best friendship. Saul quits but Walt tells him no, saying "We're done, when I say we're done." This leads to Mike having to work with Saul once more. Saul helps them find a meth lab and equips them with a team, Ira, Todd, and some others. Saul helps Mike when the DEA comes close and once again collides with Hank in his line of work. Trivia *Saul's name is a play on words for the slang expression "'s'all good, man," meaning everything is all right. *Saul is a graduate of the University of American Samoa with an MA in political science, even though the university doesn't exist in the real world.http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?s=AS *Drives a white Cadillac with a license plate that reads, "LWYR UP." *A real telephone number, (505) 503-4455 based in Albuquerque, New Mexico was created for Saul's law firm and when called it consists of Saul on an automated switchboard system with various options. It is made clear on the Better Call Saul website (www.bettercallsaul.com) and on the Breaking Bad Facebook page that this telephone number is a long distance telephone call and not toll-free. *His office at the strip mall is garishly decorated with wall-sized images of the U.S. Constitution, fake plaster columns invoking images of stately Washington DC federal buildings, and an inflatable Statue of Liberty on the roof to attract customers. *Saul Goodman is also the name of one of the main characters in a book trilogy called 'Illuminatus!' he is a police detective in this book trilogy. *It is possible his publicity as a lawyer happened, or gained because of the 737 crash from the Season 2 finale. *If there were to be a spinoff of Breaking Bad, Saul is the most popular character in the talks. *His real last name could be McGuilt, even though it could be only a legal joke used while trying to convince Mr. Mayhew (actually Walter) to hire him for his services. References es:Saul Goodman Category:Breaking Bad characters Category:Law enforcements